Chemical Biology Research Emphasis Area

The University of Utah General Catalog

This course will focus on biochemical and biophysical approaches to studying proteins and their functional interactions. Topics covered will include: protein-ligand interactions, cooperativity and allostery, protein folding and design, spectroscopic techniques, analytical ultracentrifugation, calorimetry, biosensors, proteomics approaches, and protein structure prediction.

Bioscience Faculty

Markus Babst

Protein Trafficking, Metabolism, Membrane Contact Sites

Kuberan Balagurunathan

Glycobiology

Vahe Bandarian

Biosynthesis, Enzymes, Modified Transfer RNA Base, Queuosine, Ubiquitous RNA Modification

Amy Barrios

Protein Phosphorylation, Chemical Probe Development, Metals in Medicine

Lou Barrows

Natural Products Drug Discovery, Anti-Cancer, Anti-Infective Agents

Brenda Bass

Double-Stranded RNA (dsRNA), RNA Editing, RNA Interference, DICER

David Blair

Bacterial Motility

Justin Bosch

Cell Signaling, Genetics, Development, Inter-organ Communication, Drosophila, CRISPR, Plasma Proteomics

Jessica Brown

Pathogenesis, Fungal Genetics, Host-Pathogen Interaction

Bethany A. Buck

Structural Biology, Biophysics, and Cancer Epigenetics

Shannon Buckley

Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Ubiquitination, Proteomics

Grzegorz (Greg) Bulaj

Molecular-Behavioral Combination Therapies, Digital Therapeutics, Mobile Medical Apps, Epilepsy, Pain, Depression, Cancer

Cynthia J. Burrows

Nucleic Acid Chemistry

Brad Cairns

Chromatin Transcription, Genomics, Gene Expression

Erhu Cao

Ion Channels, Receptors, Transporters, Structural Biology, cryo-EM, Renal Disease

Demián Cazalla

Functions and Mechanisms of Non-Coding RNAs

Dipayan Chaudhuri

Mitochondria, Heart Failure, ion Channels, Calcium Channels, Mitochondrial Diseases, Voltage-Clamp Electrophysiology, Metabolism, Calcium Imaging, Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter

Thomas Cheatham

Biomolecular Simulation, Computational Chemistry

Mingnan Chen

Peptides, Host Immune Systems Peptide Materials

Darrell R. Davis

RNA Structure/Function

Katharine Diehl

Chromatin and Histone Modifications, Epigenetics and Metabolism, Protein Chemistry, Metabolite Sensors

Greg Ducker

Cancer Metabolism, Physiology, Liver Cancer, Mass Spectrometry, Chemical Biology, CRISPR Screens

Tim Formosa

Chromatin in DNA Replication

Sarah Franklin

Chromatin, Chromatin Remodeling Epigenetics, Proteomics, Heart Failure, Heart Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Mass Spectrometry

Raphael Franzini

Drug Development, Chemical Probes, Imaging Agents

Hamid Ghandehari

Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery

David W. Grainger

Biomaterials and Drug Delivery, Materials in Medicine, Nanomaterials Toxicity, Diagnostics, Cell Therapy

Ming Hammond

Biosensors, RNA, Fluorescence Imaging, Bacterial and Immune Cell Signaling

Kevin Hicks

Metabolism, Protein-metabolite Interactomics, Metabolic Signaling and Surveillance, Protein Biochemistry, Enzymology, Mass Spectrometry, Interactome Discovery Platforms

Christopher P. Hill

Protein Structure and Function

Martin Horvath

Structural Biology, Biochemistry, DNA repair, Eye Health

Adam Hughes

Organelle Communication and Disease, Cell Biology, Organelle Quality Control, Nutrient Sensing, Aging, Metabolic Stress

Janet Iwasa

Molecular Animation, Multimedia, Visualization, Education, Cell Biology, Biochemistry

Jarrod Johnson

HIV Molecular Virology, Virus-host Interactions, Virus Sensing, Innate Anti-viral Defenses, Gene Regulation, Dendritic Cells, Macrophages, CRISPR

Michael S. Kay

Protein Design, Viral Entry, Synthetic Biology, Chemical Protein Synthesis

Mei Y. Koh

Solid Tumor Hypoxia, Kidney Cancer, Liver Cancer, HIF-1 and HIF-2

Jindřich Henry Kopeček

Biorecognition, Drug Delivery

Jessica Kramer

Polymer Chemistry, Protein Engineering, Bioconjugation Techniques

Carol Lim

Cancer Therapeutics, Gene Therapy, Protein Therapeutics, Liver Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Yang Liu

Nucleic Acids, Gene Editing, Biotechnologies, Single-molecule Biophysics, Cell Dynamics, Immunity

Ryan E. Looper

Small Molecule Interactions in Biological Systems

Martin McMahon

Translational Cancer Research, Mouse Models, Melanoma, Lung Cancer, Thyroid Cancer, RAF Kinase, PI3 Kinase, Experimental Therapeutics

Kerry McPhail

Natural Products Drug Discovery, Microbial Macrocycles, Untargeted Metabolomics, Tandem Mass Spectrometry, NMR Spectroscopy, Inhibitors of Protein Secretion, Herptile Microbiomes

Michelle Mendoza

Cell Migration, Invasion, RAS, ERK, Lung Cancer, Signaling, Tumor Mechanics

Matthew Miller

Chromosome Segregation, Cell Division, Microtubules, Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Biophysics

Ben Myers

Signaling across the Membrane in Development and Cancer: Hedgehog, Wnt, Primary Cilium, Membrane Proteins / Lipids, G protein-coupled receptors

Gabe Nagy

Bioanalytical Separations, Mass Spectrometry, Carbohydrates

Toto (Baldomero) Olivera

Conotoxins, Molecular Neuroscience

Shawn Owen

Biotherapeutics, Biomaterials for Cell-Based Therapy

Randy Peterson

Zebrafish, Phenotypic Screening, Behavior, Neuropharmacology, Disease Models, Genome Editing, Therapeutics

Owen Pornillos

HIV Biochemistry and Structural Biology, Virus-host Interactions, Innate Anti-viral Defenses

Aaron Puri

Chemical Ecology, Drug Discovery, Microbiome, Natural Products, Microbiology, Biosynthesis, Secondary Metabolites

Christopher A. Reilly

Pulmonary Toxicology, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Drug Discovery

Andrew G. Roberts

Chemical Protein Synthesis, Peptides, Organocatalysis, Catalysis, Natural Products

Minna Roh-Johnson

Cell Migration, Tumor Microenvironment, Cytoskeleton, Zebrafish, Mouse, Dictyostelium, Immunology, Breast Cancer, Melanoma

Jared Rutter

Cancer Metabolism, Diabetes & Obesity, Metabolic Signaling

Helena Safavi-Hemami

Natural Products, Drug Discovery, Venom, Peptides, Evolution, Computational Peptide Discovery, Neuropeptides, Hormones, Signaling Systems, GPCRs, Membrane Proteins, Ion Channels, Metabolism, Insulin, Diabetes, Pain

Saveez Saffarian

Enveloped Virus Budding

Amnon Schlegel

Metabolism, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Atherosclerosis, Fat, Cholesterol, Glucose

Eric W. Schmidt

Symbiosis, Microbiome, Metagenomics, Synthetic Biology, Natural Products Chemistry, Biosynthesis

Peter Shen

Protein Homeostasis, Protein Structure, cryo-EM, Image Processing, Protein Quality Control, Proteopathy, Protein Complexes

Jason Shepherd

Synaptic Plasticity, Memory and Neurological Disorders, Memory Formation

Paul Sigala

Malaria Parasite Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Heme and Iron Metabolism, Organelle Metabolism, Regulation, and Adaptation

Scott Summers

Diabetes, Dyslipidemia, Metabolic Disease, Sphingolipids, Ceramide, Insulin Resistance and Beta Cell Failure

Wesley I. Sundquist

HIV Assembly, Replication and Restriction, Cell Division

Jessica Swanson

Multiscale Simulations of Biomolecular Systems, Membrane Permeation, Lipid Droplets, ATP Hydrolysis, AAA+ ATPases, Charge Transport, Channels and Antiporters